A salesperson wearing a protective mask helps a customer to see General Motors Chevrolet vehicles on sale at a car dealership in Grove City, Ohio, on Saturday, August 15, 2020.
Ty Wright | Bloomberg | Getty Images
General Motors has become the latest carmaker to be hit by the global shortage of semiconductor chips, as the US carmaker said on Wednesday that it will cut production at four assembly plants next week.
GM said it would completely cut production during the week of Feb. 8 at plants in Fairfax, Kansas; Ingersoll, Ontario; and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. It will also operate its Bupyeong 2 plant in South Korea by mid-week.
GM did not say how much volume it would lose or which supplier would be affected by the chip shortage, but said production was focused on plants with the lucrative vehicles – full-size pickups and SUVs as well as the Chevrolet Corvette sports car. GM said it plans to make up for as much lost production as possible.
“Despite our mitigation efforts, the shortage of semiconductors will affect GM production by 2021,” GM spokesman David Barnas said in a statement to Reuters.
“The supply of semiconductors for the global automotive industry remains very fluid,” he added. “Our supply chain organization is working closely with our supply base to find solutions to the semiconductor requirements of our suppliers and to reduce the impact on GM.”
Affected GM vehicles include the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Cadillac XT4 SUV, Chevy Equinox and Trax, and GMC Terrain SUVs and the Buick Encore small crossover vehicle.
The shortage of chips has led to several car manufacturers, including Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor Co., Subaru Corp, Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor and Stellantis NV, reducing vehicle production.